Abstract: By 2050, the world population will have considerably expanded and the life standard of many will increase, yielding a 50% higher demand in protein (FAO, 2011), and even increases of 82 and 102% for diary and meat products, respectively (Boland et al., 2013). To provide in this increasing demand we are highly dependent on our classical fertilizer to food chain which has a high environmental impact and lacks efficiency. Nutrient losses cause eutrophication and biodiversity loss and the input of resources is already beyond the boundaries of environmental sustainability (Steffen et al., 2015). Phosphate fertilizers are made from phosphate rock (apatite), of which the reserves are predicted to be depleted within 50 100 years if we continue business as usual (Cordell et al., 2009). Next to problems related to the unbalanced geopolitical distribution with dominance in China and Morocco, the decreasing quality of the remaining apatite will result in an increasing environmental impact of fertilizer production. Finally, our traditional food production model requires 30% of all ice-free land, 70% of all available freshwater and produces up to one third of the global greenhouse gas emission, of which 80 to 86% is linked to agricultural production (Vermeulen et al., 2012). To ensure food security, nutrient recovery from waste streams can provide an important strategy. In this context, struvite ( ) crystallisation may be applied to recover phosphorus, along with some nitrogen. Reusing these nutrients as agricultural fertilizer on the field will lead to considerable losses to the environment. In contrast, their use to cultivate micro-organisms, e.g. for single cell protein (SCP), offers to potential of a near perfect conversion efficiency (Moed et al., 2015). At this moment, microalgae represent the most developed type of SCP, and are a promising protein source due to their growth rate, high nutritional quality and extremely high nutrient usage efficiency (Becker, 2007). Reliable solubilisation data are essential to design a technological strategy for struvite dosage in bioreactors for SCP production. The effect on solubility and solubilisation rate of relevant physicochemical parameters was studied experimentally in aqueous solutions. Because pH and temperature greatly affect solubilisation kinetics they were set at a constant value of 7 and 20°C respectively. The effect of some parameters on struvite solubility was already studied (Bhuiyan et al., 2007; Ariyanto et al., 2014; Roncal-Herrero and Oelkers, 2011), but solubilisation rates were not yet considered and pH was not controlled at a constant value. The chemical parameters considered in this study include the concentration of different common ions ( and ), foreign ions ( and the chelating agent ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA) present in micro-algal cultivation media as well as ionic strength (as set by NaCl). The main physical parameter included was contact surface, through variation in initial particle size and as well as in struvite dosage concentration.

Abstract: The neutron flux distribution in the vicinity of 30, 20 and 10 mm diameter targets is measured by irradiating concentric ring-type iron monitors at different distances from the target and counting the induced56Mn activity. Considering the many uncertainties, satisfactory agreement was found between theory and experiment.

Abstract: Difficulties in the production of lignin from rice straw because of high silica content in the recovered lignin reduce its recovery yield and applications as bio-fuel and aromatic chemicals. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a novel method to reduce the silica content in lignin from rice straw more effectively and selectively. The method is established by monitoring the precipitation behavior as well as the chemical structure of precipitate by single-stage acidification at different pH values of black liquor collected from the alkaline treatment of rice straw. The result illustrates the significant influence of pH on the physical and chemical properties of the precipitate and the supernatant. The simple two-step acidification of the black liquor at pilot-scale by sulfuric acid 20w/v% is applied to recover lignin at pH 9 and pH 3 and gives a percentage of silica removal as high as 94.38%. Following the developed process, the high-quality lignin could be produced from abundant rice straw at the industrial-scale.

Abstract: Various theoretical and experimental methods are utilized to investigate the thermal conductivity of nanostructured materials; this is a critical parameter to increase performance of thermoelectric devices. Among these methods, equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) is an accurate technique to predict lattice thermal conductivity. In this study, by means of systematic EMD simulations, thermal conductivity of bulk Si-Ge structures (pristine, alloy and superlattice) and their nanostructured one dimensional forms with square and circular cross-section geometries (asymmetric and symmetric) are calculated for different crystallographic directions. A comprehensive temperature analysis is evaluated for selected structures as well. The results show that one-dimensional structures are superior candidates in terms of their low lattice thermal conductivity and thermal conductivity tunability by nanostructuring, such as by diameter modulation, interface roughness, periodicity and number of interfaces. We find that thermal conductivity decreases with smaller diameters or cross section areas. Furthermore, interface roughness decreases thermal conductivity with a profound impact. Moreover, we predicted that there is a specific periodicity that gives minimum thermal conductivity in symmetric superlattice structures. The decreasing thermal conductivity is due to the reducing phonon movement in the system due to the effect of the number of interfaces that determine regimes of ballistic and wave transport phenomena. In some nanostructures, such as nanowire superlattices, thermal conductivity of the Si/Ge system can be reduced to nearly twice that of an amorphous silicon thermal conductivity. Additionally, it is found that one crystal orientation, <100>, is better than the <111> crystal orientation in one-dimensional and bulk SiGe systems. Our results clearly point out the importance of lattice thermal conductivity engineering in bulk and nanostructures to produce high-performance thermoelectric materials.

Abstract: Egg geometry can be described using Preston's equation, which has seldom been used to calculate egg volume (V) and surface area (S) to explore S versus V scaling relationships. Herein, we provide an explicit re-expression of Preston's equation (designated as EPE) to calculate V and S, assuming that an egg is a solid of revolution. The side (longitudinal) profiles of 2221 eggs of six avian species were digitized, and the EPE was used to describe each egg profile. The volumes of 486 eggs from two avian species predicted by the EPE were compared with those obtained using water displacement in graduated cylinders. There was no significant difference in V using the two methods, which verified the utility of the EPE and the hypothesis that eggs are solids of revolution. The data also indicated that V is proportional to the product of egg length (L) and maximum width (W) squared. A 2/3-power scaling relationship between S and V for each species was observed, that is, S is proportional to (LW2)(2/3). These results can be extended to describe the shapes of the eggs of other species to study the evolution of avian (and perhaps reptilian) eggs.

Abstract: Artemisinin (ART) is a vital medicinal compound that is used alone or as part of a combination therapy against malaria. ART is thought to function by attaching to heme covalently and alkylating a range of proteins. Using a combination of biophysical methods, we demonstrate that ART is bound by three-way junction and duplex containing DNA molecules. Binding of ART by DNA is first shown for the cocaine-binding DNA aptamer and extensively studied using this DNA molecule. Isothermal titration calorimetry methods show that the binding of ART is both entropically and enthalpically driven at physiological NaCl concentration. Native mass spectrometry methods confirm DNA binding and show that a non-covalent complex is formed. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy shows that ART binds at the three-way junction of the cocaine-binding aptamer, and that binding results in the folding of the structure-switching variant of this aptamer. This structure-switching ability was exploited using the photochrome aptamer switch assay to demonstrate that ART can be detected using this biosensing assay. This study is the first to demonstrate the DNA binding ability of ART and should lay the foundation for further work to study implications of DNA binding for the antimalarial activity of ART.

Abstract: Interface engineering in complex oxide superlattices is a growing field, enabling manipulation of the exceptional properties of these materials, and also providing access to new phases and emergent physical phenomena. Here we demonstrate how interfacial interactions can induce a complex charge and spin structure in a bulk paramagnetic material. We investigate a superlattice (SLs) consisting of paramagnetic LaNiO3 (LNO) and highly spin-polarized ferromagnetic La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 (LCMO), grown on SrTiO3 (001) substrate. We observed emerging magnetism in LNO through an exchange bias mechanism at the interfaces in X-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity. We find non-symmetric interface induced magnetization profiles in LNO and LCMO which we relate to a periodic complex charge and spin superstructure. High resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy images reveal that the upper and lower interfaces exhibit no significant structural variations. The different long range magnetic order emerging in LNO layers demonstrates the enormous potential of interfacial reconstruction as a tool for tailored electronic properties.

Abstract: Gels are a popular cleaning method for paper conservators and a lot of research has been done concerning gel cleaning of paper objects over the last 15 years. Despite the close interconnection between the conservation fields of paper and photographic material, research on using gels for cleaning photographs is very scarce. However, gels can provide an excellent cleaning method for photographic material. Cleaning silver gelatine prints with aqueous solvents is very complex due to the hydrophilic properties and fragility of the gelatine layer which makes mechanical cleaning difficult. The properties of gels ensure better control over the flow and evaporation of the solvent, facilitating the cleaning process. This study is the first insight into the viability of using gellan gum gel and polyvinyl acetate-borax (PVAc-borax) gel to clean contaminants from the surface of silver gelatine photographs. It is based on self-made samples that were artificially aged and contaminated with soot. Water, ethanol (EtOH), and Kodak Photo-flo were studied as solvents to remove the soot from the silver gelatine-based prints. These solvents were loaded into the aforementioned gels and applied to the samples in two different methods. These gel cleaning methods were subsequently compared with traditional cleaning methods. In addition, the usage of cyclomethicone D4 as a protective mask for the gelatine layer was studied. Measuring methods used to evaluate the cleaning were visual comparison, microscopic observation, and densitometry. ATR-FTIR measurements were also conducted to investigate potential side-effects of the cleaning methods on the prints, such as unwanted chemical transformations or the presence of gel residues after the treatments. Most of the gel cleaning methods within this study proved to be inadequate, with the exception of the gellan gum gel loaded with 30% EtOH. It was used as a granulated gel applied mechanically on a print saturated with cyclomethicone (octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane D4). Cyclomethicone proved to be a very effective protective barrier for the water-sensitive gelatine layer with minimal reduction in cleaning effectiveness.

Abstract: Weak interlayer van der Waals (vdW) bonding has significant impact on the surface/interface structure, electronic properties, and transport properties of vdW layered materials. Unraveling the complex atomistic dynamics and structural evolution at vdW surfaces is therefore critical for the design and synthesis of the next-generation vdW layered materials. Here, we show that Ge/Bi cation diffusion along the vdW gap in layered GeBi2Te4 (GBT) can be directly observed using in situ heating scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The cation concentration variation during diffusion was correlated with the local Te-6 octahedron distortion based on a quantitative analysis of the atomic column intensity and position in time-elapsed STEM images. The in-plane cation diffusion leads to out-of-plane surface etching through complex structural evolutions involving the formation and propagation of a non-centrosymmetric GeTe2 triple layer surface reconstruction on fresh vdW surfaces, and GBT subsurface reconstruction from a septuple layer to a quintuple layer. Our results provide atomistic insight into the cation diffusion and surface reconstruction in vdW layered materials. Weak interlayer van der Waals (vdW) bonding has significant impact on the structure and properties of vdW layered materials. Here authors use in-situ aberration-corrected ADF-STEM for an atomistic insight into the cation diffusion in the vdW gaps and the etching of vdW surfaces at high temperatures.

Abstract: The number and composition of species in a community can be quantified with alpha-diversity indices, including species richness (R), Simpson's index (D), and the Shannon-Wiener index (HGREEK TONOS). In forest communities, there are large variations in tree size among species and individuals of the same species, which result in differences in ecological processes and ecosystem functions. However, tree size inequality (TSI) has been largely neglected in studies using the available diversity indices. The TSI in the diameter at breast height (DBH) data for each of 999 20 m x 20 m forest census quadrats was quantified using the Gini index (GI), a measure of the inequality of size distribution. The generalized performance equation was used to describe the rotated and right-shifted Lorenz curve of the cumulative proportion of DBH and the cumulative proportion of number of trees per quadrat. We also examined the relationships of alpha-diversity indices with the GI using correlation tests. The generalized performance equation effectively described the rotated and right-shifted Lorenz curve of DBH distributions, with most root-mean-square errors (990 out of 999 quadrats) being < 0.0030. There were significant positive correlations between each of three alpha-diversity indices (i.e., R, D, and H') and the GI. Nevertheless, the total abundance of trees in each quadrat did not significantly influence the GI. This means that the TSI increased with increasing species diversity. Thus, two new indices are proposed that can balance alpha-diversity against the extent of TSI in the community: (1 – GI) x D, and (1 – GI) x H'. These new indices were significantly correlated with the original D and HGREEK TONOS, and did not increase the extent of variation within each group of indices. This study presents a useful tool for quantifying both species diversity and the variation in tree sizes in forest communities, especially in the face of cumulative species loss under global climate change.

Abstract: The efficiency of light emission is a critical performance factor for monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (1L-TMDs) for photonic applications. While various methods have been studied to compensate for lattice defects to improve the quantum yield (QY) of 1L-TMDs, exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA) is still a major nonradiative decay channel for excitons at high exciton densities. Here, we demonstrate that the combined use of a proximal Au plate and a negative electric gate bias (NEGB) for 1L-WS2 provides a dramatic enhancement of the exciton lifetime at high exciton densities with the corresponding QY enhanced by 30 times and the EEA rate constant decreased by 80 times. The suppression of EEA by NEGB is attributed to the reduction of the defect-assisted EEA process, which we also explain with our theoretical model. Our results provide a synergetic solution to cope with EEA to realize high-intensity 2D light emitters using TMDs.

Abstract: Background This study explores the repurposing of Auranofin (AF), an anti-rheumatic drug, for treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) adenocarcinoma and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Drug repurposing in oncology offers a cost-effective and time-efficient approach to developing new cancer therapies. Our research focuses on evaluating AF's selective cytotoxicity against cancer cells, identifying RNAseq-based biomarkers to predict AF response, and finding the most effective co-therapeutic agents for combination with AF. Methods Our investigation employed a comprehensive drug screening of AF in combination with eleven anticancer agents in cancerous PDAC and NSCLC patient-derived organoids (n = 7), and non-cancerous pulmonary organoids (n = 2). Additionally, we conducted RNA sequencing to identify potential biomarkers for AF sensitivity and experimented with various drug combinations to optimize AF's therapeutic efficacy. Results The results revealed that AF demonstrates a preferential cytotoxic effect on NSCLC and PDAC cancer cells at clinically relevant concentrations below 1 µM, sparing normal epithelial cells. We identified Carbonic Anhydrase 12 (CA12) as a significant RNAseq-based biomarker, closely associated with the NF-κB survival signaling pathway, which is crucial in cancer cell response to oxidative stress. Our findings suggest that cancer cells with low CA12 expression are more susceptible to AF treatment. Furthermore, the combination of AF with the AKT inhibitor MK2206 was found to be particularly effective, exhibiting potent and selective cytotoxic synergy, especially in tumor organoid models classified as intermediate responders to AF, without adverse effects on healthy organoids. Conclusion Our research offers valuable insights into the use of AF for treating NSCLC and PDAC. It highlights AF's cancer cell selectivity, establishes CA12 as a predictive biomarker for AF sensitivity, and underscores the enhanced efficacy of AF when combined with MK2206 and other therapeutics. These findings pave the way for further exploration of AF in cancer treatment, particularly in identifying patient populations most likely to benefit from its use and in optimizing combination therapies for improved patient outcomes.

Abstract: Global warming is altering the intra-annual variability of precipitation patterns in the mid-latitudes, including a shift towards longer dry and wet spells compared to historic averages. Such fluctuations will likely alter soil water and nutrient dynamics of managed ecosystems which could negatively influence their functioning (e.g., productivity and fodder quality). Here, we investigated whether basalt addition could attenuate effects of increasingly persistent precipitation regimes (PR) on two agricultural grassland monocultures differing in drought resistance (low: Lolium perenne (LP) vs high: Festulolium (FL)) and digestibility (high: LP, low: FL), while improving soil C sequestration. In total, 32 experimental mesocosms were subjected to either a low (1-day wet/ dry alternation) or a highly (30-day wet/dry alternation) persistent PR over 120 days, keeping total precipitation equal. In half of these mesocosms, we mixed basalt with the top 20 cm soil layer at a rate of 50 t ha-1. Overall, 30-day PR increased average water availability resulting in improved aboveground biomass and shoot digestibility for both species, in spite of elevated physiological stress. These PR also increased shoot Si, K, N and C but reduced Ca accumulation. Basalt addition generally increased soil Al, Ni, Mg, Ca, P, K and Si availability without altering root biomass or total soil carbon. Moreover, differences in root N content and C:N ratio between species were reduced. Interestingly, basalt modified the PR effects on productivity. Within 30-day PR, basalt stimulated aboveground biomass (& PLUSMN;14%) and root Si and K contents without altering plant digestibility, palatability, crude protein content or Ni/Al content. These results indicate that basalt can stimulate grassland productivity and soil nutrient availability under more persistent PR without negatively affecting fodder quality. Hence, basalt application may improve the performance of young temperate grassland monocultures under climate change, though dry soil conditions may limit effects on soil C sequestration during summer.

Abstract: Governments and international organizations are increasingly determined to create more sustainable food value chains (SFVCs). However, only little empirical evidence is available on how SFVCs are understood. Enquiring African food value chain actors allows gathering valuable insights into their perception of sustainability, which characteristics of sustainable food value chains they prioritize, and which obstacles to a sustainable transformation they identify. By means of a Q-methodology involving interviews with 33 Kenyan respondents, four perspectives were distinguished. The first perspective, “economic productivity and growth,” prioritizes economic growth and has only limited attention to the social dimension of sustainability. The second perspective, “food security and food availability,” believes that ensuring food security should be the key goal of SFVCs. The third perspective, “environment first,” is dedicated to the environmental dimension of sustainability; the perspective implies that protecting natural resources is the primary way to sustain this level of production. The fourth perspective, “transformative knowledge,” entails that by innovating and sharing knowledge, food value chains can become more sustainable in different areas. Overall, this study provides reliable insights into how Kenyan food value chain actors perceive sustainability in their sector and which elements they believe should be prioritized when rethinking food systems. The study results are valuable for policy-making to further define an SFVC in Kenya and to pave the way for a sustainable transformation of the food sector in developing countries.